It is said that, to know a place better, start exploring it's cuisine and to know the food of a region better, try it's street food.
We were invited to try the ongoing 'Street Food Festival' at Nellai Express, which will be on till December 10, 2016 for both Lunch and Dinner.
A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to try their regular menu. Sharing both experiences, with the latest first...
There is set thalis
ABOUT NELLAI:
The city of Tirunelveli is commonly referred to as "Nellai" based on the presiding deity of the temple "Nellaiappar" an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Nellai represents areas near by too from Madurai, Tiruchirappalli to mainly Tirunelveli. There is a train named Nellai Express from Chennai to Tirunelveli, so when I had heard about this new restaurant by the same name, I was wondering about the food there, as it is always intriguing to taste regional delicacies with a cuisine.
The city of Tirunelveli is commonly referred to as "Nellai" based on the presiding deity of the temple "Nellaiappar" an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Nellai represents areas near by too from Madurai, Tiruchirappalli to mainly Tirunelveli. There is a train named Nellai Express from Chennai to Tirunelveli, so when I had heard about this new restaurant by the same name, I was wondering about the food there, as it is always intriguing to taste regional delicacies with a cuisine.
AMBIANCE:
A staircase leads you to level 1, where there are a lot more space with a private dining area for groups, too.
That space is pretty beautiful, with a lovely chandelier making it magnificent. The dining area is simple with some colours and nice lampshades on top.
BEVERAGES:
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| Goli Soda |
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| Paneer Soda |
STREET FOOD FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE:
We went for the Non Veg Thali. The lunch has two combos for non veg and one for veg while the dinner festival menu one thali for veg and another for non veg.
The starters / sides in the thali were particularly the ones popular as street food in the Nellai region.
Masala Vadai
Medhu Vadai
Medhu Bonda
All were made in the typical way. I am not a Vadai fan, so I skipped. My friend said these were good.
So, I tried the Parotta, which was flaky, good small size and nice. Thirunelveli Kozhi Kolambu was the chicken curry which was medium spicy and the gravy had a good medium consistency. Loved the flavours.
Fish Fry: Looked a tad bit scary with the full fish fried, but tasted amazing. Infact we started having after a long photo and chat session and it was still crispy and damn yummy. No extra masalas and jazz.. simple and yumm.
We were served a deep fried chicken leg piece too, which was not mentioned in the menu though.
Nellai Pepper Chicken: This was nice. That typical pepper flavour was intact. Being a chicken eater, we loved these dishes.
Mini Kari Dosai: Another thing, I usually do not try, but it was good. Generous portion of good meat chunks on the mini dosai, made for a tasty and filling addition to the meal.
Jeera Samba Mutton Biryani: Ah, my favourite part is here. The last time, I was here, I had loved something else, but not the Biryani. This time, it was a different biryani as it was made with the traditional Jeera Samba. Brilliant Biryani. I absolutely adored it and kept helping myself with another helping.
Raitha I avoid. Brinjal Salna was good.
Kulu Kulu Paanam was the dessert. It is a cold flavoured milk with icecream within. I was told there's fig gulab jamun within, I couldn't notice. I liked the icecream part alone.
Veg Nellai Festival Thali:
We were served the veg thali too to sample the dishes.
That too comprises the Orange Nannari Juice, Goli Soda, Masala Vadai, Medhu Vadai and Medhu Bonda.
The Parotta was served along with veg gravy. There was Gobi 65 and Onion/ Tomato Utthapam with Vetthalai Paaku. I was happy to see Ghee Rice there as I love it.
The dessert remains the same.
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| Dessert |
This pretty arrangement with sweet candy, banana etc worked as another dessert and aftermint.
PRICE: Not applicable to us as we were invited. But the price is Rs 349 plus taxes for veg as well as Non Veg Thali, which I feel is very pocket friendly for that food. The gravies are unlimited.
SERVICE: The service is good, with the waiters being well informed and able to explain about the menu. At times, slow though.
The Nellai Street Food Festival is on only for Dine In, both lunch and dinners only till December 10, 2016.
OUR EXPERIENCE OF REGULAR MENU AT NELLAI EXPRESS:
Here's a bit from our visit on invitation, a couple of weeks back, on a weekday dinner.
BEVERAGES: Same as mentioned above.
Along with the welcome drink, they serve dry snacks: chikki and sev, which I guess is called here as Kadala Mittaai and Kaara Sev. I quite liked this gesture, very homely.
SOUP:
I was actually planning to skip soup and directly move to food. But when the server recommended their non veg soup, I couldn't say No.
Nenjelumbu Rasam, a mutton rib soup. Delicious to the core. A broth of mutton tibs with south Indian spices, a spicy clear soup, which was very flavourful. Very good for cold ridden throat too. Well, as I hear, it is very good for health too. Loved it.
APPETISERS:
I definitely wanted to have the seer fish fry and so that was my first order, along with prawn fry, my two loves.
Vanjaram Porichadhu: Deep fried Seer Fish. This is actually in the side dish category of the menu and indeed goes so well. Mildly spicy and fresh good quality fish.
Yera Porichadhu: These are well spiced deep fried medium sized prawns. Good portion and crispy outer cover. Quite spicy and I love it. Such a good combo with cold beverages. I need to get my folks there to get them try this. They would love it.
MAINCOURSE:
Initially we thought the thalis are only for lunch. But they have some classy thalis and combos for dinner too.
We kept it straight forward.
There is this beautiful page on menu called NX Signature dishes (Chef Recommendation).
Our orders were:
One Biryani Thali and one Ghee Rice Thali.
I have become a fan of that Ghee Rice. I could tell by the aroma that was such a homemade kinda dish.
Ah! That Ghee Rice! I definitely am gonna order and go again for that.
It had Nei Choru, Kalari Aanam, Raita, Brinjal Bharta and kesari halwa. A limited stuff thali and trust me, that is more than enough. I can go on having that Ghee Rice with that gravy. I didn't need the bharta or raita at all. The Kesari is something I hardly ever try outside. Here I had a bite and couldn't stop having more.
The Biryani Thali had quite a lot of things: Biryani, Chicken 65, Chicken chukka, Bharta, Raita, Kesari, Coin Parotta and Salna. Well, I liked everything except the Biryani which didn't impress my palate. I like a bit more spicy and flavourful version. It was a Basmati rice biryani with good portion. The chicken 65 and chukka were nice. I immersed myself into the Ghee Rice again.
And...
Quite a delightful experience. I remember I had ordered some lunch combos from here through swiggy a few months back and it had not disappointed then too.
Planning a trip on some weekend, as they have new menu every weekend which is special for that weekend.
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